Sanaungulus ruicheni ( Hsiao & Huang, 2018 ) Fanti, 2018

Fanti, Fabrizio, 2018, Sanaungulus ruicheni (Hsiao & Huang, 2018) n. comb. with the differential diagnosis of genera Sanaungulus Fanti, Damgaard & Ellenberger, 2018 and Ornatomalthinus Poinar & Fanti, 2016, Zootaxa 4514 (3), pp. 449-450 : 449-450

Sanaungulus ruicheni ( Hsiao & Huang, 2018) n. comb.

( Cantharidae Cantharinae Cantharini )

Ornatomalthinus ruicheni Hsiao & Huang, 2018 ( Cantharidae Silinae Silini )

The species delimitation is often very problematic when limited information on different semaphoronts is available in highly sexually dimorphic groups. This is also reflected in the taxonomy of the Cantharidae , even at the subfamily or tribe level. One example is the genus Tytthonyx LeConte, 1851 which is placed in the subfamily Silinae as incertae sedis showing intermediate characters with the subfamily Malthininae Kiesenwetter, 1852 ( Brancucci, 1980) . Ornatomalthinus and Sanaungulus show a remarkably different head shape. The possibility that it is due to feed on nectar and pollen ( Hsiao & Huang, 2018) is currently unsupported by clear evidence since genera and species (even in soldier beetles) feeding on pollen commonly tend to have a stretched rostrum not a modified posterior part of the cranium. Moreover, soldier beetles tend to be predators and are only occasional nectarivorous, the latter strategy present due to the development of the angiosperms in the Cretaceous. Therefore, the difference of the shape of the head, in contrast to what Hsiao & Huang (2018) claimed, confirm that the two genera represent independent lineages deserving the genus rank.

Ornatomalthinus ruicheni Hsiao & Huang, 2018 is transferred to Sanaungulus . As a result, the fossil genus Ornatomalthinus remains monotypic with the only type species O. elvirae Poinar & Fanti, 2016 and three species are now placed in the fossil genus Sanaungulus : S. curtipennis Fanti, Damgaard & Ellenberger, 2018 , S. ghitaenoerbyae Fanti, Damgaard & Ellenberger, 2018 ( Poinar & Fanti, 2016; Fanti et al., 2018) and Sanaungulus ruicheni . The genera Ornatomalthinus and Sanaungulus belong to the subfamily Cantharinae Imhoff, 1856 and not to the subfamily Silinae Mulsant, 1862 .